Natixis Boosts Holdings in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO)

Natixis raised its position in Assured Guaranty Ltd. (NYSE:AGO) by 109.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 56,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 29,702 shares during the quarter. Natixis’ holdings in Assured Guaranty were worth $5,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Assured Guaranty by 214.0% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 24,879 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,980,000 after purchasing an additional 16,956 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its stake in shares of Assured Guaranty by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 719,249 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $64,740,000 after buying an additional 66,487 shares in the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Assured Guaranty during the 4th quarter worth approximately $250,000. First Eagle Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,367,000. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Assured Guaranty in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,060,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 92.22% of the company’s stock.

Assured Guaranty Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE:AGO opened at $83.37 on Monday. Assured Guaranty Ltd. has a 1 year low of $72.57 and a 1 year high of $96.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.48 and a beta of 0.84.

Assured Guaranty (NYSE:AGO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The financial services provider reported $1.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.34 by ($0.07). The company had revenue of $199.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $199.56 million. Assured Guaranty had a net margin of 70.37% and a return on equity of 11.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Assured Guaranty Ltd. will post 7.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Assured Guaranty Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 19th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 5th were paid a dividend of $0.34 per share. This is a positive change from Assured Guaranty’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.31. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 5th. This represents a $1.36 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.63%. Assured Guaranty’s payout ratio is 19.94%.

About Assured Guaranty

Assured Guaranty Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides credit protection products to public finance, infrastructure, and structured finance markets in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments: Insurance and Asset Management. The company offers financial guaranty insurance that protects holders of debt instruments and other monetary obligations from defaults in scheduled payments.